“Data tells us the readership for free newspaper is growing faster then paid newspaper. Although technology development is hammering the overall newspaper industry, the impact is much bigger on paid newspaper than free newspaper. I think there is still a lot of space for free newspapers to develop,” he said.

Headline Daily today increased its circulation from 850,000 to 900,000 as there is “more space” in the market now since Sharp Daily is shut down.

Sharp Daily had a circulation of 900,000 when it first ventured into the market in 2011, but this fell to 500,000 in March, according to HKABC (1 January to 31 March 2013).